God is moving!

I wonder if you have noticed that God is on the move. He is lighting fires, changing lives and His Spirit is sweeping across the world with a force and fury wondrous to behold!

You may be asking yourself…”Where is this movement?”

And unfortunately many churches in North America are befuddled when they hear people speaking about God’s mighty movements. But this is not because it isn’t happening, but mostly because we aren’t getting on board with what God is doing!

In the church of the Nazarene around the world, we are seeing sometimes 500 or 1000 churches starting each year in various zones/districts. This is because of the Spirit of God wooing people to Him and believers being obedient to the calling and direction God is putting on their lives.

In America I believe that it is starting too. And we can choose to get on God’s side, or be left behind.

God is stirring in people’s hearts the desire to speak of His wondrous story to those who will listen. Not waiting for them to come to a church building or get comfortable in a seeker sensitive area. But just going in love and boldness and proclaiming: “The Kingdom of God is near, repent!”.

I pray that I will be a part of that which God is doing and that we can snatch from the very clutches of hell those who need God’s redemption and we can allow God’s Spirit to move within in us to such a degree that no one could deny that God is moving to seek and save the lost!

Remember God’s heart beat is….’none; all; none; all; thump; thump; none; all”:

God’s heartbeat is that none should perish but all would come to repentance and salvation.

How have you seen God working and moving in your midst?

Learning from experience

You can’t learn from experience without experiences.

You can’t see God’s hand at work in everyday life without working and serving and seeking in everyday life.

Sitting at a desk; reading a book; even keeping a pew warm will not bring about a forceful advancement of the kingdom of God.

Doing something will.

And we don’t have to guess at what Jesus would have us do.

He has told us. And shown us.

And will tell us again if we will ask and listen.

And then we must obey.

Sometimes in obeying we are taking leaps of faith. We wonder if we heard correctly. Or if we really heard at all, or if we’re just crazy and talking to ourselves.

And then we wonder if what we are doing really makes a difference or really counts for anything.

But if God told you, He will affirm you. And if/when He affirms you, you can know that the accomplishments are having a far greater and farther reaching impact than you could ever imagine.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, No mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Help Someone Today

Your mother always told you to leave something better than you found it.

Furthermore, don’t we all want others to have a better life because they know us?

But how is someone else’s life actually better because they know you? How is our city better because you live here? Really we each only have three options. We can affect others lives for the better, affect them for the worse or have no impact whatsoever. If we have no impact it is because we are disconnected. If we have any connection at all we will have some impact, either for better or worse.

Is the way you are living your life impacting others for the better or for worse? When you die will your family and friends, city and world be better because you were there? If not, why not?

 

Knowing and doing God’s will

I’ve been thinking a lot about knowing and doing God’s will. As a matter of fact I just got through telling God how frustrated I was with Him that He has not made it more clear on a day by day, moment by moment basis. A little ironic, considering I just preached Sunday on taking this journey one step of faith at a time (even if we can’t see where our feet will land).

God reminded me in my time of prayer (and complaining) to let His Word stand. God’s Word will not return void or empty. His promises are always true and His Word is everlasting. And so of course I am reminded that the reason I have not heard/discerned God’s voice among all the other ones clamoring for my attention is because I haven’t been reading the Word. We must meditate on His Word and all it says to us!

I am further reminded that if we don’t know what else we ought to be doing, we should continue doing the last thing He showed us (thanks Henry Blackaby). There are things we should always be doing. We should always be praying. And worshipping. And thanking. And living out love. And proclaiming the gospel. Maybe we don’t know what to do because we haven’t been reading the Word. Or maybe we just don’t like what He has already told us so we are looking for something else. Knowing and doing God’s will…it starts with letting His Word stand. And being obedient to it, no matter what.

The purposes of life and ministry

God has created us with His perfect intentions. He has reasons. They flow out of who He is. His character/His heart. Somehow they include us. Because of His love. Because of the communal nature of who He is and who invites us to be.

Along the way we have lost our way. We have been sidetracked. Blinded. Distracted. We have believed a lie. In actuality many lies.

When God sets us free it is by the truth. It is by the very nature of who He is. And it is for the purpose of fulfilling His purposes for creation and for each of us individually. And therefore the freedom that He has for us is in regard to whatever is defeating us.

It is in the very areas of our weakness that Satan will attempt to find a foothold and pull us down, and in those same areas, God wants to set us free.

His Word tells us that we are a slave to whatever has mastered us and so therefore God wants to give us freedom through His power to overcome anything that has mastered us.

And the freedom that God gives only comes through surrender and submission. To be free is to choose lordship. His Lordship. Because amazingly the Lordship of Christ in our lives is the definition of true and complete freedom because it gives life and peace, power and purpose.

How to know God’s will and waiting on Him

Waiting…something I’m not really good at. Listening…also something that I am weak in. So when you take the two and realize that together they comprise perhaps the largest component of knowing God’s will, it means my work is cut out for me. I will have to learn patience. I will have to surrender, and slow down and wait. How can I do that? I am not sure but that is what I am seeking to discover because I want to know and then do the will of God, unencumbered by the ideas and pressures of men. Simply obeying all that God would have me do, that is my desire.